He declined to obey orders from the brother whom he secretly detested.

He flatly refused to be transferred from the Hague to Madrid, or to put in force the burdensome decrees of the Continental System.
On his side, Napoleon upbraided him with governing too softly, and with seeking popularity where he should seek control.

After the Walcheren expedition, he chid him severely for allowing the English fleet ever to show its face in the Scheldt; for "the fleets of that Power ought to find nothing but rocks of iron" in that river, "which was as important to France as the Thames to England."[226] But the head and front of his offending was that British goods still found their way into Holland.

In vain did the Emperor forbid that American ships which had touched at English ports should be debarred from those of Holland.

In vain did he threaten to close the Scheldt and Rhine to Dutch barges.